Burn in vs perception
Posting here in speakers, but could probably go in any of the forums. Question of the night: how much of burn in of components is actually burn in of our perception? That is, is burn in partly us becoming accustomed to a change in sound.
I’m listening to my SF Amati Traditions that at first I found a bit strident, but I now find lush, dynamic, and generally brilliant. I bought them as 1-year old demos so theoretically they should have been played enough to be broken in. I haven’t changed anything in my system—I have been working on my room with more stuff, but that’s it.
Sometimes reviewers or arm chair audiophiles (me) will state that said component needs to be plugged in and left alone for weeks until it gels with the system. Could this simply be our own perception burn in OR is something real happening here?
For speakers I can buy it (woofers need to loosen up and all), but I almost always buy used, and I almost alway a) find a difference of a new component (good or bad), and b) in time, I couldn’t tell you what the change was. Maybe just me, but our brains are pretty good level setters.
I willing to bet this can be a large part of “burn in”.
I am still in the honeymoon stage with a new 300B amp. As of now I have about 40 hours on it. Last night I could clearly hear that something was different. The dynamics just opened up in a big way. The sound out of the box was very good, but maybe a little tight. Last night the swing factor was on full display, just sounded like a more powerful amp in every way.
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@ozzy62 - in your case, I'd say both the amp's electronics and the tubes need breaking in; in my experience, tubes mostly sound at their best after at least 100 hours. You've probably got a good bit of improvement left to look forward to.... |
@rockadanny - I've owned a number of pairs of speakers; some will sound fine right out of the box, but most I've had sound pretty nasty to start off and sound the way they should after 150 - 200 hours. |
